National consultant for assisting the WHO Viet Nam in Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) activities to cope with the COVID-19 outbreak and beyond

Background Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) is one of the priority areas in the health sector in the fight against COVID-19 outbreak. Additionally, over the last 10 years, the health sector, with support from international agencies, has developed a network of IPC in almost all HCFs and hospitals. The network is continuing to be developed and improvements are being made to enhance its capacity to respond effectively to emerging disease outbreaks, especially with the COVID-19 outbreak. However, a recent assessment has showed that gaps in IPC capacity still remain, particularly at district health level. WHO Viet Nam plays a key role in supporting the strengthening of capacity in IPC in healthcare facilities and hospitals. Efforts to cope with COVID-19 have been made through close cooperation with the Ministry of Health (MoH), relevant departments, HCFs, hospitals and other developing partners. Currently, WHO Viet Nam is facing overstretch of human resource to support technical areas for the national counterparts in COVID-19 activities, including IPC. There has been no full-time staff working on IPC and only one national professional officer (NPO) assigned to cover as an IPC focal point for CO, a maximum of 30% of whose time can be allocated to IPC. For accommodating the increased demand from national counterparts to support IPC in the context of COVID-19, WHO Viet Nam is seeking a Short-Termed Consultant to work full-time to support WHO Viet Nam in performing routine IPC activities in coordination with the NPO as the team of IPC in WHO Viet Nam. Address for application: Administrative Officer World Health Organization UN Building, 304 Kim Ma Street, Hanoi, Viet Nam Or by email at: wpvnmapplicants@who.int